Voldemort's Lair
by Vain Ambitions
Summary: A slightly different setting than the actual story, Draco is a slave under Voldemort. He ran away, wishing to be in Hogwarts, but is Hogwarts really what he thought it would be? Slight DracoXHermione. Rated T for the dark contents.
1. Chapter 1

**Setting: this story has all the same characters as the original story, some if them having their background slightly twisted. For example, Harry now has parents, and is this really rich boy. He's still famous though, and friends with Hermione and Ron. And Luna is this rich girl, since in this story the quibbler is selling really well. And the main character Draco Malfoy is awesomer than ever (since I like him and I want him that way), and his background is also changed. **

**There is a Hogwarts, and there is also a Voldemort's Lair, which is a place infamous for keeping dark wizards and holding prisoners and slaves (the government cannot interfere though, Voldemort is too strong, as usual). So the story starts with Draco being a slave in the Voldemort's Lair. Quite sad. He's fifteen I think. More of the story of Voldemort and his Lair will be revealed, so read on!**

**Also, the way they cast spells are different. The power of their spell depends on the energy level of themselves, which they will be trained in the school. Thought that would make more sense than just pronouncing the spell and flicking your wand.**

**Oh, and Bellatrix is Voldemort's wife. Thought she looked that part.**

Draco lugged the huge pail of water up the stairs. The elevator had spoiled again. And he would have to fix it, as usual. The elves were good in everything, except for meddling with those muggle-technology. They'll blow this whole place up, and the Dark Lord would not be very happy about it.

Still, dragging this pail of water up the stairs fast without making the floor wet was not an easy thing to do. Heck, since when was anything easy in the first place? Draco thought bitterly as he heaved a sigh of relief, having finally reached the top floor. Why did this damn castle has to be so big and tall and with so many staircases with extremely big steps? He always wondered how Voldemort managed to get hold of such a grand mansion with over a million rooms, and protect it with such careful measures. He took the mop he had placed next to the stairway, and started mopping the floor.

Life sucked as a slave. There's so much work to do, all of them could have been easily done by a few house elves, but no, the government had to be extremely supportive of the S.P.E.W organization thing. What was it called again? Society for... Protection? Promotion? Ahh, to hell with it, it caused the price of house elves to go up and now house elves even have a limited time in which they could serve a particular household. They're a thousand times more valuable than himself! Draco grumbled unhappily as he started wiping the floor with a cloth.

"Hey, slave-boy, the toilet in the third floor is clogged up again. Young Master Black might have blown it up again, by the looks of it." Cootie, one of the chefs, climbed up the stairs and called. "And the elevator's spoiled again. Better fix it before the Dark Lord comes and get irritated by it again."

"Yes, I'm fixing it right after this." Draco mumbled.

"And that toilet, better be quick, it's stinking up the place."

Draco frowned. Geez, what did they think he was, a superman? He could fly all over this castle and fix every single thing with a flash? Even elves can't do that. He leaned against the wall after cleaning the whole room, rubbing his sore arms.

Better get going to fix that damn toilet and elevator.

Draco had been in this place for as long as he could remember. He had been working his butt off all his life, with slightly better treatment when he was young and cute. Now he's all grown up and nobody gives a shit about him. He had been here for so long, and he knew all the nook and cranny in this place, and he took his entire life to figure out a way, a rather unclear way, to escape this hell. Rumors had said that once you successfully got out of this freaking Lair, the Dark Lord could never ever reach you again, as whatever's outside was protected by the government. Ever since he heard that, his one and only dream in his life was to run away from this place.

Hogwarts, they say, the school called Hogwarts. They'll accept anybody who are able to do some magic. Draco rubbed his two fingers. Tiny fire sparks appeared. He could do magic alright, he could do it better than anybody else. He'll definitely go to Hogwarts.

Having said that, running away was still not easy. He had seen one older slave hung up in the living room, bleeding and disfigured when he was just eight years old, as a punishment for trying to run away. That shocked him, but that did not stop him from wanting to run away. That slave just failed in his attempt, that's all. Draco was sure he could do a better job.

After all, all his life while being a slave, he had worked so hard, kissed so many asses, kicked at and bullied and punched and abused in many different ways, he had had a rough idea on a way to get out of this place. Rough idea that needs fine tuning.

"Fucking slave-boy, hurry up and clean this shit, can't you see I need this room? Quicken up your pace and make sure this place is as clean as your butt!" One of the Death Eaters shouted, smacking Draco's butt real hard.

Draco bit his lips to stop himself from crying out. Perverted bastard. "Yes, Master Carrow." He muttered, speeding up.

Alecto Carrow stood by the door, watching Draco rub the floor with a condescending look. When Draco was done, he stopped Draco from rushing out of the toilet.

"Regulus said you were good. Very corporative." He said, smiling in glee, touching his butt. "And I personally think you're quite cute, and that's a rare compliment coming from me." Alecto crooned, smacking Draco's face.

Draco made no sound. Some Death Eaters here are fucking perverted. Sometimes he thought that even if he died trying, he definitely has to get out of here. "Thank you, Master Carrow."

When Alecto closed the door on him, he literally flew out of the room and away from the Death Eater.

"Yes, Master Carrow is very perverted. There's this time he made me stand there and he touched my ass while trying to suck on my boobs." Roxanne said angrily.

"He did?" Sebastian said, shocked.

"Well I'm just glad he didn't tell me to do anything." Draco said. "Master Black was horrible enough." He shuddered.

He looked around. Good, there's nobody. "Hey, the Dark Lord's birthday is two months later, right? Let's put our plan into action during that day!"

Sebastian stared at Draco incredulously. "You mad? Everybody will be here in the castle, how are we going to run away?"

"It's a festival, so no one is going to notice us." Draco assured. "And my plan is foolproof. At least, I think it is. We still need to touch up a bit on some of the fine details, but we've got more than two months to prepare for that."

"Not unless some Death Eaters drag me up as a dance partner or something." Roxanne grumbled. Roxanne was too good-looking for her sake.

Sebastian wrapped his arm around Roxanne. "I won't let them!" He declared.

Roxanne blushed. "That is not up to you." She said defiantly. Draco raised his eyebrows. Since when were the two of them that close?

The bell rang. Sebastian sighed. "Talking time's over." He shrugged, as he got back to work. "Come on, Roxanne, see you, Draco."

"See you."

Sebastian and Roxanne were Draco's childhood friends. He had known them since forever, and had been with them, suffered with them, struggling with them. Draco had decided long ago that all three of them are to run away together as well. They were all so similar, but one thing different about them was that both of them knew how they got into this place. They had been sold by their parents, apparently. Draco didn't remember anything beyond his life in this place though. Maybe he was sold by his parents too? Who knows.

He went to the kitchen. Cleaning almost the whole house seemed to be his chores, as he stared unhappily at the chefs talking and laughing in a corner while he wiped the kitchen table clean.

"Hey, Draco." Crooned a girl who came next to him. Abigail. She's a chef, and a rather high-ranking one. Which is precisely why Draco had hit on her, to get information and also to get some food.

"Hey Abby." Draco smiled, pulling her up for a kiss. So far, Draco had hit on two different high-ranking slave-girls already. Call him a womanizer, but that was how he managed to survive for so long. And formulate the escape plan.

"It's been a while since you've last came here." She pouted. "Have you forgotten about me?"

"Why would I forget you?" Draco shook his head. "You're the most beautiful girl in the world."

Funny how easily a girl is pleased by words. He watched as Abigail ran to fetch extra food for him. Low-ranking slave-boys like him were usually starved for days. To have a relatively pleasant working schedule and amount of food, you'd have to be a chef or the Dark Lord's personal attendant.

"Thanks, I was starving. They didn't leave any food for us yesterday." Draco said, eating one of the buns while keeping the rest into his pocket safely. Roxanne and Sebastian must be starving as well.

"That's because we are storing our food supply for the coming Dark Lord birthday bash. Even though it's like two months away." Abigail scowled unhappily.

"Oh?" Draco picked up interest. "You're preparing for them already?"

"Yeah, apparently, the Dark Lord wants to make it extremely big this year, so we're all going to be extremely busy nowadays." Abigail sighed. Draco caressed her hair.

"So, everybody is going to be pretty busy, huh." He mused to himself.

"Yes, even you normal slaves get to join in the celebration. Of course, I think your main purpose is still to clean up floors and stuff."

"HEY YOU slave-boy! Stop having little chit-chats and do you work!" Somebody shouted.

Abigail jumped. "Bye!" She winked and ran off. Draco finished his job and cleaned up the kitchen. Yes, during the Dark Lord's birthday, running away would be really easy. If everybody is busy, nobody would notice a thing. He smiled. He rubbed his two fingers again. Fire sparks danced on his fingertips, and with a shake, it turned into little water angels.

Hogwarts, here I come.

**Hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I know, first chapters are always slightly boring… but it's important as it sets the setting and stuff! Soon Draco would run away and then the pairing of DracoXHermione can be seen only then.**

**Stay tuned for more xD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter up! :D I love Severus Snape!**

"Remember, a daily dosage of the pill, not less than twelve hours in between..."

"...one hour after eating, drink one full liter of water right after that." Draco said, bored. Every single time he went to retrieve the medicine, the doctor just had to repeat his boring instructions over and over again, even though Draco had already heard it about ten million times.

The doctor raised his eyebrows. He was a good man, the doctor. He had dark greasy hair, for which Draco had a feeling it was because the doctor did not wash his hair very often. His face was often sullen and sour, which made quite a lot of people not very fond of him (Roxanne was even scared of him), but Draco had interacted with him enough to know how nice he was on the inside. No one knows his real name, but he was especially hired by the Dark Lord to provide ammunitions and healthcare to the people in the castle. He charged everybody else, except for Draco, in which Draco had no idea why. He tried getting some money to pay off his medicine, but the doctor wouldn't accept it. So, Draco owed a lot to the doctor. If not for him, he would have died.

"You might think that it's boring listening to the instructions again, but it's essential. You have no idea the amount of side-effect it will have if you don't follow the instructions. And if your illness worsen..."

"Blah blah blah." Draco brushed off his remark as he grabbed his new packet of pills. "Bye, Doc. I've still got jobs to do."

"Don't run off like that without listening to all of my instructions. Remember, don't overwork yourself, and don't starve yourself too!" The doctor said.

Draco snorted. "Ptttf, as if they will allow that. Bye."

Draco always had this weird illness. He had no idea what it was, he just had them as long as he could remember. It's probably the same as Joseph's asthma, where you just get it from a very young age. He just knew that not eating these pills will result in horrendous effects. He remembered having a period of time when his eyes went blind because he had neglected those pills, and he could never forget how angry the doctor went when he was sent to him.

"Slave-boy! Clean this mess!" Someone called. Sigh, time for work...

As Draco cleaned up the floor, something struck him. He had no idea what his illness was, and what the pills contain. So it'll be a disaster if he ran away from this castle, away from the doctor, and his pills ran out. Seeing how the doctor treats him as if he had got terminal cancer and will die without eating the pills according to instructions, this post a serious problem.

Draco frowned. He wondered if the doctor would suspect him if he went back and asked for the ingredients of his pills. The doctor, no matter how nice he was, he was still hired by the Dark Lord, he was still one of his men.

Argh, damn this. Draco scratched his head furiously. He has to think of a way, he can't give up now, not after all these years of planning, dreaming and wishing.

"Hey, Draco, are you done with your work? Can you help me?" Dobbie, a house elf came up to him. Draco beamed. "Sure I can!" Dobbie was the nicest elf in the whole castle. Being a low-ranked slave-boy, he had been ordered around by almost every single person, from the Dark Lord, to the Masters, to the servants, some higher-ranking slaves, and even the elves had the privilege to order him around. Only Dobbie remained friendly to him. He even took care of Draco when he was young, and taught Draco some useful magic.

"You know, you can always use the cleaning spell I taught you last time to clean this mess up." Dobbie said.

"I don't want to create unnecessary attention just because a slave like me know how to do magic." Draco said.

"I did the spell on my own room though. It's clean as heaven now. Can you teach me even more of such spells?" Dobbie smiled. "Glad to be of help! Now, I need you to help me with these flowers, I'm too short..."

* * *

><p>"The usual gatekeepers will be guarding the gates during the day, there's no change about that." Roxanne said. "But it's no problem, they get drunk really easily."<p>

"And throughout the whole day the Dark Lord will be in his dining room, having a special feast with all his most precious and important Death Eaters before going for the main dinner. Apparently we slaves get to rest and play too during this time." Sebastian said. "Do you think this would be a trick? Their security measures are so low it's unbelievable!"

Draco frowned. "I don't think so. I mean, no one dared to escape for almost seven years now, and the Dark Lord's powers are really great now, do you see new Death Eaters walking around the place? It's natural to let your guard down during these golden period."

Sebastian still looked rather doubtful. "We're going to work ourselves really hard so that we can pretend to be sick, right?"

"Yeah, and I've asked doctor, he said everybody would be so busy we'll be left alone anyway." Draco said.

"Goodness, this is really too good to be true." Sebastian said.

Draco considered this for a while. "Alright, you might be correct. Let's come up with a Plan B just in case it doesn't work." Draco laid the paper over on the floor. "We should have a plan for in case the exit we figured out doesn't work, and another plan to save us from getting caught, and another plan to save us from dying if we ever get caught."

Sebastian and Roxanne gulped.

"If you say so..." They mumbled, obviously dreading the thought of being caught.

The three of them discussed their plan and worked out their back-up plans through the night. On the day of Voldemort's birthday, they will pretend to be sick. They would have to pretend to be really sick one day before, as real as possible. When everyone is busy, they will sneak out to the fifth level toilet that is hidden from everyone else, which has been malfunctioning because the sewer had been broken apart by Draco a long time ago. Disgusting as it may be, they will go into the sewer and follow the sewage to wherever it was disposed, which was definitely out of Voldemort's Lair. They will do all these discreetly, and after they reached out of Voldemort's lair, they would disguise themselves. Dobbie had taught Draco how to do a simple disillusionment spell, and they would run away as far as possible from here. What happens outside will be decided later.

Whoever and whatever that goes in and out of Voldemort's Lair would be checked stringently, even during a huge festival like this, but Draco really doubted that they would check on the sewers.

"So, with the plan finalized, all we need to do now is to gather as much resources as we can so that our trip would be successful. But make sure you don't make any obvious signs about planning to leave." Draco instructed.

"Yes sir." Sebastian answered.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I will get all the ammunitions and medicine from doctor, in case we will be injured, or infected by bacteria in the sewer." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You know, if we really did succeed in running away..." His voice was trembling with excitement.

"I would buy all the ice-cream I could ever buy!" Roxanne exclaimed.

"I would ride in those roller coasters they describe in the books!" Sebastian exclaimed.

Yes, if they really did run away, whatever that existed only in those books that they read will really exist. They do not need to work anymore, they would have freedom, and all those people from outside, they must be ten thousand times better than these Death Eaters! And best of all... Draco could barely contain his excitement... He could get into Hogwarts.

Hogwarts... A school for wizard, how he really wants to attend it!

* * *

><p>The doctor blinked in surprise when he saw who the visitor was. "Draco? I thought I just gave you the medicine yesterday?"<p>

"Erm, well, could I have more?" Draco asked. He had been thinking all throughout the night the best way to ask the doctor without arousing suspicion. Since he was always bullied when he was young by other slaves (now he was big enough to defend himself), using that once again would probably not surprise the doctor too much. "A couple of slave-boys had been laughing at me for coming here too often. I think it's better if I get more packets of such pills so that I can stop coming here for quite some time."

The doctor frowned. "No, this is no good. I need you to come here to check on your conditions consistently."

Disappointment and dread filled Draco. After he ran away, he could not ever come back for any more check ups, would his conditions get worse? "What sort of illness did I get anyway?" He could not believe he did not bother to ask of this question earlier.

The doctor shook his head. "I can't tell you. You won't understand anyway. It's just some disease that you will die if you do not take the medicine longer than one day."

Goodness. Draco gulped. He really needed the doctor to give him as much pills as he could get... "I promise to come back regularly for check-ups, but I really want the extra pills. Pretty please?" Draco tried to do the pleading eyes he did for so many girls who had fallen for it, but it did not seem to work on males, as the doctor was just glaring at him.

"Fine." He said, after a long time. "But don't lose it. It takes very long to make them."

"Thank you!" Draco smiled, grabbing the three more packets of pills. He would very much want for more, but anymore might just arouse suspicion again. "And Roxanne is injured, can I have some antiseptic medicine too?"

"Ask her to come find me."

"She's scared of you, remember?"

"Right." The doctor grumbled as he grabbed a few of his medicines. "Take all these to her, then. One of them should work."

"Thank you!" Draco beamed. The doctor had always been generous in giving his medicines to Draco, and Draco only. He had seen the doctor charging especially high for a minute amount of medicine for somebody else. In a way Draco was proud that he was special.

"Bye, Doc!" Yes, he was all prepared to escape right now.

**Hope you enjoyed this second chapter.**

**Stay tuned for more xD**


	3. Chapter 3

**I missed this fic. ): and now I'm back! And I had all the storyline planned out so I think it would be quite awesome. HP all the way!**

The day has come. It's finally Voldemort's birthday. Never in Draco's mind would he had known he would be so expectant and happy during Voldemort's birthday. He laid on his bed next to his two other friends. They had been sleeping in this room, the sick bay, ever since yesterday. They had took the nose-bleeding nougat Draco made. The sight of them was really gruesome and horrible, so they were taken in as patients almost immediately.

Draco sat up and listened to what was going on outside. As they thought, everyone was very busy doing preparations for the upcoming festival and celebrations, nobody even remembered there were people in the sick bay.

Draco got out of bed quietly, followed by Sebastian and Roxanne. He peeked out of the door. People were scattering around, carrying boxes and running around frantically. He waited till there were clear of people before signaling to the other two.

"Wait, stuff something under our blankets, so they would think that we are still under our blankets if they ever come in." Draco said.

They creeped out of their room immediately after that, running as swiftly and quietly as they can manage. They arrived at the planned toilet as planned.

"How do you get to the sewers?" Sebastian asked, looking around.

Draco smiled. "Don't worry, I made it so nobody in the right mind would know that this toilet has been broken apart by me and used as a means of escape. To be safe that nobody finds out though, it's better to lock this toilet." He closed the door, putting a sign 'malfunctioning' outside.

He looked at his other two friends. They nodded their heads. Draco smiled. "Keep our concentration up, we're going to finally escape this place." He walked to one of the cubicles and yanked the door open. "I hid the entrance of the sewer here. Come on!"

They forced open the entrance to the sewer, and climbed into it, holding their breaths. "Eww, it stinks." Roxanne complained.

"Bear with it." Draco said curtly, holding his breath too.

"But if you're not feeling well, wrap a cloth around your mouth or something." Sebastian offered, preparing to take off his shirt.

"It's alright." Roxanne said, grabbing Sebastian's hands and blushing.

They walked along the dark sewers, into the blackness, into God-knows-where, walking along the road like a blind man, like a dead zombie. They walked and walked and walked, for as long as they can imagine. Anytime soon, those Death Eaters might be running after them already, anytime soon, they might probably be captured and hanged on the living room. Draco trudged in front of his other two friends. This was not as easy as he thought it would be. It was so tiring trying to get away as fast as possible, and yet not able to breath properly due to the unbearable stink in the sewers. Draco thought that the smell in this place could very much be a haunting ghost torturing his entire body as he panted heavily.

And the experience was also not buttered up by the fact that Sebastian and Roxanne were holding their hands and walking side-by-side like loving couples. Draco kicked a random stone on the floor. Sebastian and Roxanne had been together for quite some time, and Draco was already used to it, but this still made him feel very lonely. Very strangely lonely.

Wait. Did he just kicked a stone?

He stopped dead in the tracks and turned around. "I just kicked a stone." He said, incredulously.

They blinked. "So?"

"So?" Draco shook his head exasperatedly. "There haven't been any stone at all until now, right? This might just mean that we are near the end, or something. At least, either the end or back to the castle." Draco shrugged. He rubbed his fingers together, and fire sparks were created, slowing them to have a clearer view of the surroundings. Draco looked around for some kind of an exit. The other two followed suit.

"Hey, Drac!" Sebastian called out, pointing at the wall next to them. "There's a crack in the ceiling. Will it help?"

Draco looked towards where Sebastian was pointing. Sure enough, there was a crack in the wall, and quite a big one actually. "I can break through it, but I don't know if it will really lead us out." Draco said. "I mean, who knows, we might still be in Voldemort's Lair."

"We've walked long enough I think." Roxanne said. "I don't think Voldemort's Lair is that big. At least, as far as I know."

Draco looked at his two other friends. "So, you guys willing to take the risk?"

Sebastian and Roxanne looked at each other, gulped, and nodded their heads. "I'm pretty sure that we are out of the Lair." Sebastian said.

"Alright, then I'll break through the cracks then." Draco said, taking out a piece of wooden stick. He realized he could concentrate on spells if he had a medium for him to transfer his magic to. He remembered seeing the other Death Eaters holding sticks like that, which made Draco decided to make one stick like that too. He pointed the stick to the crack, and shouted the spell which Dobbie had taught him. "Defodio!"

The cracks on the wall widened and finally broke apart.

"Take cover!" Draco warned as the wall crashed down upon them. Roxanne hid herself under Sebastian as Draco created a barrier to protect the three of them.

A few minutes later, the wall was completely broken apart. Draco stared at what was revealed behind the wall. There was a passage way made of rock, and beside the passage way was a glass wall. Behind the glass wall, as Draco stared in surprise, were a lot of people. A lot.

"Damn, have we been found out?" Draco muttered under his breath, dread washing through him. However, the people walking about behind the glass wall did not seem to notice the three of them, or the crushed wall. They continued walking, oblivious to whatever that was happening opposite the glass wall.

Draco stumbled across the heap of debris and into the passage way. He touched the glass wall. Those people behind the glass wall must not be able to see them. Maybe this glass wall is only transparent on one side. As Draco observed the people walking towards different directions, his dread were cleared and relief rushed through him. Yes, those people were definitely people from outside. They were definitely not in Voldemort's Lair anymore. They had succeeded in their escape.

"Where do you think this place is?" Sebastian asked, staring hard at the outside world. The outside world...that's what they had called it, the world outside Voldemort's Lair. According to the books and rumors, the outside world was a place of freedom, a place without slavery.

"I don't know, I've never seen anyplace like that." Draco admitted.

"Well, does it matter?" Roxanne said. "I mean, we're finally here, might as well crash our way in like we did with this wall over here."

Draco frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, there are so many people, it's better to not attract too much attention. After all, we are still refugees. Let us walk along the passage way, I'm pretty sure this glass wall will have a door or something, or at least, we will break in when there are lesser people around."

The others agreed. They walked along the passage way, staring across the glass wall like it was a rare piece of art. Strange, these people wore weird clothes, robes that are really short that only covered till the waist, and funny-shaped cloth covering their bottom tightly. It looked really uncomfortable to wear them. Soon, they reached a place where there were nobody at all. Nobody, but a whole floor of green paper.

"So, let's break in here." Draco said, taking out his wooden stick once again. "Deprimo!"

The glass wall broke apart, and the glass shattered everywhere, causing much destruction. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use that spell after all. He looked at his arm, and saw it stained with injury from the glass, and turned to look at Sebastian and Roxanne. They were injured as well. Really not a good idea to use that spell.

"Come on, let's get out of..." Before Draco managed to finish his sentence, a loud alarm sounded throughout the room. "What the - ?"

A crowd of blue-suit guys carrying some metal L-shaped stick bursted into the room. "Put your hands up and surrender your weapon!"

The three of them looked uncomfortably at one another before doing what they were told. Draco looked at the people around them with a horrible clutch in his stomach. Damn, he never expected this to happen. All he imagined after escaping Voldemort's Lair was to finally be free. But of course, just crashing into some place like this with exhaustion and blood and dirt all over them, nobody could just let them go that easily, right? Argh, if only he had thought about how to arrive at the outside world without suspicion, then this could be prevented.

But right now, blaming himself would not turn the circumstance around, as the three of them were led outside and to God-knows-where rather roughly.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love Draco. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four up! Hope you enjoy this.**

Draco sat on the chair, unwilling to say anything else more. The interrogator had been very annoying, refusing to accept anything Draco had said, claiming it as 'bullshit'. Seriously, what the hell is this?

"I'll ask just one more time: where did you come from, how were you able to break into the highly protected Muggle bank, and what is your motive?" The interrogator shouted firmly, slamming the table in front of Draco and glaring at him. Draco glared back. He was tied to his chair, so he could not whip a punch at that man's annoying face like he wanted.

"I told you, I ran away from Voldemort's Lair, how many times must I tell you?" Draco shouted back.

"So, you won't spit out the truth." The man grabbed Draco by the collar and punched him. "Then I'll force it out of you!" He gave Draco a few more hard punches that Draco had a feeling that his nose probably broke under the impact.

"DRACO!" Draco could hear Roxanne screaming for him in the other room. "Don't hurt him you bastards!" He laughed slightly at Roxanne's protests. Even though it was heartwarming that Roxanne stood up for him, but doing this might get her a good beating too.

"Stupid bitch..." The interrogator mumbled under his breath. Draco felt his fury pumped into his head as he spat at the man in front of him with hatred without thinking of the consequences.

Which was real bad.

By the time the man was finished with him, he could feel as if his whole face was bleeding non-stop.

"Stop it." An old man walked into the room. He peered at the interrogator, apparently very angry, as he ordered him to go out. The old man, despite being so old his white hair fell all over him, his aura of authority glowed like a sun.

Draco stared at the man as he sat down opposite him. The man took out his own stick and pointed at Draco. Draco flinched on instinct, but he felt no pain. Instead, the blood on his face seemed to be disappear. He touched his face. Indeed, it was as clean and smooth as ever. Even his nose was fixed.

"So, they tell me you said that you escaped from Voldemort's Lair. Is that true?" The old man asked amiably, with a completely different tone from what he used on the interrogator.

"Yes, but they do not believe in it." Draco said unhappily.

"Of course they don't. It's quite hard to believe, I must say." The old man said, as he untied Draco. "My name is Dumbledore, and I'm the headmaster of Hogwarts. What's your name?"

Headmaster of Hogwarts? Draco thought as his heart gave a leap. "Draco. Sir." It's hard not to trust this man, Dumbledore.

"Who are your other two friends?" Dumbledore took out two glass from under the table and started pouring water onto them.

"Sebastian and Roxanne."

"How old are you?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but I should be 15."

"15..." Dumbledore nodded. "Would you mind telling me your adventures of escaping the Voldemort's Lair, when nobody in the world had managed to do it?" Dumbledore passed a glass of water to Draco. Draco took it and gulped it down, not having eaten nor drank anything since he had last left Voldemort's Lair.

"It's not that hard actually." Draco said. "Maybe because I had lived there for as long as I can remember, so I know every nook and cranny of that place. I just dug out an entrance to the sewers, and well, I had a feeling that the sewer would lead to somewhere out of that place, since I don't think the Dark Lord has his own waste removal system. And then today was his birthday, and because nobody had dared to escape for a very long time, he must have thought it was impossible to have anybody trying to escape on his big day, so everyone was very busy and security was low too, and we managed to run away without anybody noticing."

Dumbledore rubbed his chin and mused. "It was that easy?"

"Yeah, actually I'm quite surprised at how well it went today, I was prepared for a fight with some of the Death Eaters actually, but no one noticed."

Dumbledore peered at Draco through his half-moon glasses. He took a sip of his glass of water before asking the question that Draco had always wanted him to ask. "How do you think of going to school in Hogwarts?"

Draco stood up almost immediately, pushing the chair onto the ground harshly. "I do! I...I mean I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts, like it has always been my dream, and my motivation for escaping in the first place..." Draco trailed away, embarrassed.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Really? What an interesting fellow you are, running away from home to go to school?" He stood up. "Alright, tell your friends to get ready, as you three are going to attend Hogwarts starting from next week."

"Yes, sir!" Draco could not contain the amount of joy in his heart. This is too good to be true. He had never expected him to be accepted into Hogwarts so easily. After all, he was a slave of Voldemort's Lair. He beamed in joy as he started to rush towards Sebastian and Roxanne to tell them the good news.

"We have second hand textbooks. The condition might not be good, but you'll have to bear with it for a while." The uptight headmistress said. "But as for wands, it is necessary for you to have your very own wand, so we would have to get you children your own wands from the very best wand maker, Ollivander."

The three friends looked at one another uncomfortably. "Professor McGonagall, we don't have money..." Draco said uneasily.

Professor McGonagall smiled amiably. "It's alright, we will be assigning tiny jobs to you in school for you to do. By completing them you will be able to pay for your school fees and the money for your wand. Take it as if you are in debt to the school." When the three of them exchanged worried looks, she added reassuringly. "Don't worry, we won't make you work that hard, it'll be simple jobs such as cleaning Dumbledore's office and such. Anyway, Hogwarts is a school that aims to allow every single wizards to be able to learn magic despite family backgrounds, so you don't have to worry so much."

"Thanks, Professor." Sebastian said.

They walked down an alley called the Diagonal Alley. It was bustling with people, laughing and happy people enjoying their times talking and joking with one another. Draco just could not take his eyes of the people and the buildings and the stores. This place was filled with energy and joy, and the people of the outside world really looked ten thousand times nicer than the Death Eaters.

"Here we are, the Ollivanders, makers of fine wands since 382 BC."

They entered the old and shabby shop, and an old man with barely enough teeth to fill his mouth greeted them with an eerie smile. "Welcome, Professor, rare to see you walking around Diagonal Alley." His voice was husky and weak.

"We have special students this year, so special arrangements have to be made." Professor McGonagall explained. Ollivander stared at the three of them curiously.

"Hmm, special students, how old are they?"

"They should be around fifteen."

Ollivander looked at the three of them, but he seemed to have decided to fix his stare at Draco more intensely, which made Draco really uncomfortable. He gazed at Draco as if he was some interesting object, and then slowly turned around to his shelves piled with boxes if wands. "Alright, come on in and try some wands."

Ollivander took out a few boxes of wands. "Who's first?" He asked, taking out a measuring tape. Sebastian stood forward, looking excited.

"Hold out your wand hand." He ordered. Sebastian held out his right hand obediently. The measuring tape started measuring Sebastian's arm length, shoulder length and height. Ollivander carefully picked a wand. "Try this, mahogany and phoenix feather, eight inches, bendy."

Sebastian took the wand and waved it around, looking bewildered. Ollivander grab the wand away. "No, no, this is not good, try this other one."

Draco looked away from Sebastian and stared around at the shop. The shop was rather cramped, and it was as dark as the storeroom back in the Voldemort's Lair, with the same creepy feeling. Boxes were stacked high up, all the way to the ceiling. Do all the boxes contain wands like the one Sebastian was trying? He thought as he carefully edged closer to the boxes, staring hard at each of them. Wands...so that's what the Death Eaters have been using all these times. Do they enhance your magical abilities or something?

There was a grumbling sound. Draco frowned as he saw that a box from the top of a stack was shaking uncontrollably, making such a huge ruckus. Could that be a defective wand in the box?

"Erm, Mr. Ollivander..." Draco started, walking towards the old man, wanting to inform him of the unnatural wand. Before he could do anything, the box suddenly sped towards him, knocking off a few other stacks of boxes, and hitting him to the floor. He almost hit Roxanne, who was the one trying the wands.

"What the- " Draco gasped as the wand broke out of the box, shaking and vibrating like it was suffering from spasms.

"What did you do, Draco?" Professor McGonagall berated.

"I...I didn't do anything...really..." Draco stammered, as the wand continued jumping up and down hysterically. It leapt up to Draco's hand, and it immediately stopped moving after Draco held on to it.

Draco blinked. Could it be...that the wand flew all the way out just to be held by him?

"Oh, I see you've got yourself a wand." Ollivander said, "Go on, try it, wave it a bit."

Draco waved a bit, feeling stupid. Before he had the chance to even open his mouth to ask whether if he need to utter any spells, a strong spark shot out of the wand, attacking the wall opposite him, causing the surrounding boxes to catch fire.

Draco gasped. Everybody just stared at the damage he had done, mouth agape.

"I...I see I've gotten yourself a really powerful wand." Ollivander said, taking the wand away from Draco, while putting out the fire. "Elder, thestral tail hair, eleven and a half inches, nice and supple, perfect for any kind of spells. And it seems to have chosen you almost immediately. Thestral hair is my very first experiment, some wandlore states that it is a really powerful magical core for the wand, but so far, no one have been able to use it properly. No one, but the Dark Lord, of course. He was the only wizard whose dark magic is so powerful that he could use a yew and thestral hair wand. I am about to throw this wand away since it does not choose anybody at all." He stared at Draco, giving him the wand. "But it has chosen you, my friend. Curious, eh?"

Draco gulped, taking his wand. A wand with an extremely powerful magical core had chosen him, that was supposed to be a good thing, right? But the stunned and horrified look on Ollivander and McGonagall seemed to state otherwise.

"Alright, miss, your wand, mahogany and unicorn hair, nice and supple. That'd be three wands, and twenty one galleons."

They left the shop. Professor McGonagall brought them back to Hogwarts and introduced them to the important parts of the school. But Draco seemed to have noticed a slight change in her expression as she was talking to him. An expression with... Caution? Wariness? Draco sighed and looked at his wand. The wand felt so good on his hands, seemed perfectly carved out just for him, and it stuck to him nicely like a magnet. Is there something wrong with this wand?

"Excuse me, are you three the slaves who had escaped from Voldemort's Lair?" A stout woman with unusual taste of clothes said.

Draco stared at the woman dubiously. What could this peculiar woman want from them?

"I am Rita Skeeter, a reporter from the Daily Prophet. Can I ask for an interview with these three brave young souls?" She asked coyly, but Draco was deeply disgusted by the sweetness in her voice.

"I'm sorry, our students need their privacy." Professor McGonagall stood in front of them authoritatively. "I think an interview is out of the question."

"How about some pictures? Or some words of thoughts or something?"

Draco watched as Professor McGonagall pushed Rita Skeeter away, thinking how cool she looked. Hogwarts seemed great. The Professors in Hogwarts seemed nice, and they were very dedicated to their work and their students, it was all very heartwarming. Draco smiled. He was really going to like it here.

**End of chapter. Hope you enjoyed. :p anyway I'm sorry if Draco seemed really out of character. He's supposed to be... A little... Well, his cunning side will show soon! ;)**


End file.
